Advice on Using Manual Kitchen Timers

There's heaps of manual kitchen timers out there. Novelty ones, character ones and more functional ones. They all have one thing in common in that they all work using a 'spring' type mechanism.

Sometimes people remark that manual timers are unreliable, are not loud enough or don't ring long enough. Before you throw your hands up in the air in exasperation consider that the spring mechanism is what 'loads' the final bell so-to-speak. The further round you turn the spring, the louder and longer it will ring at the end. We often only turn the timer to the time we need, say 5, 10 or 15 minutes and wait for it to go off, expecting a loud, long ring to alert us to it's conclusion. Unfortunately if we've only turned the timer to the 5, 10 or fifteen minute mark the bell will be rather lack-lustre because the spring hasn't been wound up enough.

To get the best out of you manual timer first 'load' the spring by turning the dial almost all the way around (generally around to 55 minutes on a 1 hour timer - don't go much further or you risk over-winding it) then turn it back to the time you require. When the time's up you should be greeted with an appropriately loud and long bell.

Happy timing!

Posted by
The Online Guy

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